If there’s one thing to say about El Septimo, it’s that the company goes in completely on its PCA Convention & Trade Show booth. After making its trade show debut in 2021, the company was back with a new, bigger booth that picked up the best large booth award not long after I stopped by for a visit. It didn’t take long to understand why, as it was that combination of bright, vibrant and packed with unique things that get people talking.

Depending on which side you approach the booth from, any number of things can catch your eye; for me, it was the large, illuminated backdrop that featured a graphic of El Septimo boxes in a rainbow of colors, organized to remind me of a graphic display you might see in a piece of audio software.

I kept waiting for it to come alive and to see the boxes light up in response to the music in the booth or because of some program, but they never did since it was a static graphic, but it was incredibly well executed. Then there were the seating areas, framed by large, brightly colored backdrops that looked like something from an art museum or a modern office space focused on incorporating modern art into its environment.

As far as the new products, a walk down the red carpet revealed the majority of them, finishing off with a roped-off display in the middle of the booth that was guarded by two serious gentlemen to ensure that no one got too close to a trio of lighters priced north of $5 million each, or a bottle of very old Cognac. Suffice to say, the El Septimo booth is one of the most visually distinct experiences on the floor this year.

El Septimo The Emperor Collection

Much like the company did in 2021 with the Sacred Arts Collection, it is rolling out a new series of 10 cigars called The Emperor Collection, which is notable for including six cigars that use a Connecticut-seed wrapper, the first time the company has used the leaf on its blends. As for the other four, they feature a maduro wrappers, with the company not disclosing anything else about the specifics of the blends other than to say they use tobaccos from four different regions of the world.

Six of the cigars are being offered in traditional 20-count boxes, while the other four, collectively known as the King Sargon cigars, are only available via humidor releases. The line is also notable for offering one of El Septimo’s most affordable cigars yet, as the Augustus Cesar and King Sargon Robustos are priced at just $10 per cigar. But if you want to go big, you can also get a humidor with the Napoleon Royal Salomones which also contains a 24-karat gold pen and cigar punch designed by Audiard for $100,000.

El Septimo Alexandre III Connecticut

El Septimo Augustus Cesar Connecticut

El Septimo Emperor Collection King Sargon

For the four cigars being named for King Sargon, the company is releasing them via a series of humidors. There will be five sizes of a Gilgamesh Collection-themed humidor, as well as two limited edition humidors that feature all four cigars and a bottle of El Septimo Cognac.

The larger version, pictured above, comes with 200 cigars and is priced at $5,000, while a smaller version comes with 150 cigars and is priced at $3,500. Both of these two designs are limited to 100 humidors in each size.

This is one of several new humidor designs from El Septimo, which will be joined by designs for the Zaya Collection, the Alexandra Collection, Luxus and others. Each holds about 75 cigars.

These three lighters were some of the most talked about items before and during the trade show, and for good reason. The company released a trio of dual flame, tabletop lighters each encrusted in a mix of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Beyond the jewels, one of the first things that is striking is the size of them, each standing between 6-8 inches tall and much bigger than most tabletop lighters I have come across. But there is simply no looking past the intricate work on each one, and you can see some more photos of them here.

At the moment, there are three designs available: the Zaya Collection is at the top, the Emperor Collection — Napoleon Edition is in the lower left, and the Sacred Arts Collection — Van Gogh Edition is in the lower right. While I didn’t have the opportunity to use them, they were working and several retailers who carry El Septimo’s cigars were using them to light up cigars. As for the price? About $5.5 million each and there was chatter that all three were sold. But don’t feel bad if you missed out on this round, as I am told there are more designs in the works.

Headlining the company’s launch of its new Cognac lines is this decanter that was the creation of Zaya Younan of El Septimo and Michel Audiard, a French artist and sculptor. It is made of bronze and covered in 24k gold leaf and features a stopper with seven angels that represent the seven members of Younan’s family. Another angel appears on the bottom of the decanter with the number seven, which represents the El Septimo brand, as its name means the seventh in Spanish.

Inside the decanter is a Cognac that is more than 100 years old, with the barrels used to age the liquid dating back to the late 18th or early 19th centuries, as they were said to be found in Napoleon’s mansion. The company is releasing seven of these rare bottles, each priced at $1.5 million. I was fortunate to be at the booth at an opportune moment to taste an ounce of it at the invitation of Zaya S. Younan, and it was quite remarkable, to say the least.

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I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for MLB.com, plus I'm a voice over artist. I previously covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.